Abstract

What are the potential risks from the deployment of digital technologies in health care in a country like India, where neither basic literacy nor digital access are universal. Using three case studies—a COVID-19 tracing app, a COVID-19 vaccine portal, and a unique digital ID—this article delineates possible harms, such as exclusion, privacy invasion, data security, among others, that such technologies may cause. The aim here is to show that, contrary to popular perception, such technologies are not risk-free, costs associated with their use are not uniformly distributed across a population, and the harms arise from both their design and implementation. Their disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations tends to hide the associated costs. The asymmetric impact of digital technologies in health care makes it a particularly pernicious problem to tackle because these are the sections with little voice, so the need for safeguards is not adequately recognized or prioritized.